About Erica Firment

Erica Olsen Firment is an omnivorous mammal of the genus Ailurus, having an endothermic physiology and a long, furry tail. Erica's range extends to both deciduous and coniferous forests, and can often be found at Linden Lab, working on the user interface for Second Life.

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Face front, true believers!

on September 14th, 2011 in Comics, Digital collections, Digital Library, Research Obsession by | 1 Comment

Face front, true believers! I love the way Stan Lee addressed his readers with such an intimate and glorifying phrase. True believers! Sure, you were just reading a Spiderman comic book, but he implied that this act joined you with a like-minded group, and certified your character as loyal and…

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Tube Food

on August 25th, 2011 in Family, Mommy Stuff, Parenting by | Comments Off

My young daughter is eating solid food. She has two lower teeth, which she uses to great effect, scraping away like a reverse-squirrel. This is an exciting time for my husband and I, since we get to share some of our favorite foods with her. We also get to see…

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Data munging

on May 31st, 2011 in Administrivia, Avenging, Life, Mommy Stuff, Parenting by | 1 Comment

Recently I’ve been importing the ancient Librarian Avengers archives to live within WordPress. Because the site goes back to…hrm… 1997, there’s some data munging to do. Right now I’m concerning myself with the period after Graduate School, when I moved to Ithaca, NY for an ostensibly-cool digital library fellowship. I…

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Things that now qualify as “me time”

on April 11th, 2011 in Books, Family, Life, Mommy Stuff, Parenting by | 1 Comment

Breastpumping My commute to work Taking a shower The three block walk to return my library books Sleeping Leaning on my similarly exhausted husband and staring vacantly at something on a screen **UPDATE** I just finished Tina Fey’s new book Bossypants and was put to shame by her fantastic list…

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A Parent’s Life as a Video Game

on March 29th, 2011 in Avenging, Favorite Posts, Mommy Stuff, Parenting, Tech by | 2 Comments

I work in the video game industry, so I tend to think of life in these terms. For example, when I was pregnant with my daughter, I realized that pregnancy is essentially a really immersive resource-conservation RPG. I was always asking myself questions like: “Do I pick up this stuff…

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Library Tourism: The San Francisco Main Branch

on March 12th, 2011 in Avenging, Library tourism, San Francisco by | 2 Comments

I’ve escaped my parental bonds for a moment, thanks to my husband, so I have a few minutes to tell you about my recent trip to the SF Public library. The big one downtown. The one I visited a long time ago and left, convinced that public librarianship in a…

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Parenthood by Percentages

on February 15th, 2011 in Family, Mommy Stuff, Parenting by | 2 Comments

In case anyone is interested in the relative effects of a New Baby, I ran a few numbers this morning. -65% Cussing -50% Cups of Coffee Consumed -98% Cups of Coffee Consumed While Still Warm -98% Alcohol Consumed Before Childbirth +98% Alcohol Consumed After Childbirth +50% Loads of Laundry/Week +100%…

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Books for busy mums and other humans

on February 14th, 2011 in ALA, Books, Mommy Stuff, Parenting, Research Obsession by | 2 Comments

Reading has been a challenge lately, due to new baby and the delirium that accompanies around-the-clock breastfeeding. On the other hand, it has taken me three months to be able to comfortably leave the house, so I’ve had quite a bit of downtime. My favorite book that I’ve read lately…

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